Located in the heart of Alberta, the City of Camrose rises like an oasis in the midst of thousands of acres of rolling grain lands. Our beautiful park system and world-class recreational facilities and events are just waiting for you to discover. With a population of 18,563, Camrose is just the right size – we’re dynamic and sophisticated, yet small enough to still have that warm-hearted community ‘glad-you-could-make-it-back’ feeling.
Take a stroll on the 21 km of paved walks around the beautiful Mirror Lake and through Bullrush Park where various species of birds and animals, including our majestic trumpeter swans, make their homes full time or during migratory and breeding seasons. Ride the 92 foot long Mirror Lake Express Train during the summer months as it maneuvers its precious cargo of children of all ages up and down the trail by the lake.
Camrose is home to many annual events including Jaywalkers Jamboree and its sidewalk sales and midway rides; the purple martin festival; Canada Day celebrations of picnics and music and fireworks; the largest outdoor country music festival at Big Valley Jamboree; and the Founders Day Festival where we celebrate our historic fore-fathers. Details at www.tourismcamrose.com.
Rediscover the past in Historic Downtown Camrose, with storefront facades known as “boom-town” architecture, restored to their original glory. The Bailey Theatre, the oldest surviving theatre in Alberta still stands in its original location on main street Camrose where it was built in 1910, and if those walls could talk – what stories they could tell! In fact, the walls did talk to us! As the massive renovation project began in 1998 to restore the Bailey Theatre to its former grandeur, many layers of ‘improvements’ that had been made over the years were removed – revealing hundreds of movie cards from silent movies and ‘talkies’ from the twenties and thirties. In May 2011, the Bailey proudly re-opened its doors and announced to the world that it was back in the entertainment business of providing music and drama and Monday night classic movies – stop in for a tour. And while you are in Camrose – take time to visit the Camrose Railway Museum and Park which has unique displays of local railway heritage, then take time for tea and dessert, and stroll outdoors through the railway gardens. The gardens are reminiscent of the early “railway gardens” throughout western Canada built to impress and inspire the pioneers who travelled on that train, and to show the potential of this new land to grow produce. Our second museum, the Camrose and District Centennial Museum, is home to several fascinating turn-of-the-century buildings and “ways-of-life” paraphernalia – well worth a summer’s day visit.
Camrose has one of the oldest registered ski clubs in Canada and today major sports of cross country skiing and biathlon have been hosted at the Provincial and National level. Our Edgeworth (sports) Centre is the jewel of sport development facilities, featuring two full sized hockey rinks and a fitness centre, and is attached to the Aquatic Centre and the curling club. Recently the Edgeworth Centre has hosted Provincial men’s and women’s curling bonspiels plus the National Junior A Hockey tournament. Our 20 lighted soccer fields are put to good use on a regular basis but on one special weekend each year, 120 teams of all ages congregate in Camrose for the “Under the Lights” Soccer Tournament.
~ Courtesy of Tourism Camrose